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Bidding for unit-price contracts - How craftsmen should bid

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Author Info
Fieseler, Karsten () (Sonderforschungsbereich 504)
Abstract

We analyse the bidding for unit-price contracts, a very common procurement auction. With a unit price contract, not the provision of the good but the employment of several kinds of inputs is priced. The seller charges a unit price for the employed quantity of each input. To select one seller, a linear selection rule is used to rank submitted lists of unit prices. In this paper, we model heterogeneous technologies of craftsmen: firms differ in their requirement of input-quantities. An equilibrium of this model is found. The composition of submitted lists does not mirror the cost structure and the selection probability is not monotone in the type. Sometimes the ''lamer'' of two craftsmen is selected, enhancing all but the very lame types to bid very aggressively. Caused by this, unit-price bidding can be cheaper (require a lower expected payment) than standard auctions like the first price auction.

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Paper provided by Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim & Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim in its series Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications with number 97-03.

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Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: 09 Jun 1997
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:xrs:sfbmaa:97-03

Note: Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 504, at the University of Mannheim, is gratefully acknowledged.
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  1. McAfee, R Preston & McMillan, John, 1987. "Auctions and Bidding," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 699-738, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hansen, Robert G, 1985. "Auctions with Contingent Payments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 862-65, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. McAfee, R Preston & McMillan, John & Reny, Philip J, 1989. "Extracting the Surplus in the Common-Value Auction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(6), pages 1451-59, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Roger B. Myerson, 1978. "Optimal Auction Design," Discussion Papers 362, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science. [Downloadable!]
  5. Riley, John G, 1988. "Ex Post Information in Auctions," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(3), pages 409-29, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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